Expect to Pay More for Water in the Future

ct
05/13 06:10 PM

> Consider what you pay for water per day
> compared to what you pay for cable and
> phone service per day.

That’s an apples-to-oranges comparison. Besides, what we’re discovering is that water has, in fact, been under-priced because the cities cannot accumulate sufficient financial reserves to afford to maintain the water systems over the long run. As for the thinly veiled attack of sprawl, the flip side is that the water system is deteriorating much faster inside the beltline than outside.

susan
05/13 09:50 PM

What would have happened if the previous drought repeats itself but we are bigger? We almost ran out of water then and we are growing. The next time we run out we may just run out of water. It is time that we look at our super high rate of growth vs. the lack of growth in water reservoir capacity.

pino
05/14 01:10 AM

Given the growing pressure on our water supply from population growth, development, loss of open space, and climate change, we must take action now to ensure we maintain the quality supply and service we enjoy.  If that means paying more, I’m willing

As long as water prices are determined by supply and demand, I’m okay with that.  But when we continue to subsidize business and agriculture, you kinda loose me.

ct
05/14 06:16 AM

Construction of the City’s Dempsey Benton plant has already added capacity, and future construction of the Little River Reservoir will increase capacity further. Neither project draws water from Falls Lake.

As for Falls Lake, the “full” level of 251.5 feet is somewhat arbitrary. The lake can hold more than twice as much water if the level is allowed to increase above 251. Doing so would provide the City with more drought capacity than it will ever need. But there are two downsides. First, some of the recreational areas built under the assumption that 251 is “full” would be inundated and would have to be relocated. Second, the capacity of the lake to resist flooding downstream after heavy rainfalls would be reduced. This question of whether to increase “full” above 251 will be a hot topic in future years.

Esteban Colberto vIV
05/14 10:06 AM

Least we forget 2008… Tim Nelson does not show us his bday suite http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=5948826 and i still can’t find the archive of the mayor demoing a 28 second shower.

frank
05/14 01:12 PM

“the water system is deteriorating much faster inside the beltline than outside.”

it isn’t deteriorating faster - it’s older than the outside the beltline system by decades. Don’t think there were too many developments off Six Forks and Falls of Neuse in pre-WW II Raleigh.

And with all the downtown highrise condos and block long buildings, the older water system is being taxed harder than ever. Expect to see more street gushers.

Also expect the developers and Tea Party no taxes for nothing crowd to oppose any sort of spending money to upgrade the system.

ct
05/14 01:16 PM

Semantics aside, that’s my point. High-density development ITB has incremental costs, in the same way that sprawl OTB has costs. Neither the water system nor the sewer system ITB could cope with a 2X population increase, absent an enormous capital spending program.

susan
05/16 09:08 AM

ct,
Our most pressing problem is that of storage capacity in the event of a drought. That is, how many days we can go with insufficient rain.

The Dempsey Benton plant does not add storage capacity. The Little River reservoir, if built, will be far into the future but probably will not be built. That lake will cause a very large loss of open space and wetland, and has strong opposition from every environmental group in the area.

We have a serious problem of water storage during a drought. Now. Not just in the future.

As you point out, growth inside the beltway, just like growth outside the beltway, will require an enormous capital spending program. Should the cost of this spending be born by all residents of Raleigh, or by those causing the increase in demand (new residents and industry). The existing residents should be expected to pay to replace old pipes, but not to install new capacity for those moving in.

ct
05/16 06:00 PM

Susan,

The Benton plant re-enabled draws from Lake Benson and Lake Wheeler, which the City had quit using in 1987 when it closed the old Bain plant in downtown. These two lakes were built in the 1950s as the primary source of raw water the City. They are not as large as Falls Lake, but they do have 2 billion gallons of storage capacity… not insignificant.

Powerful forces will butt heads over the Little River project. I’m not prepared to predict that the environmentalists and NIMBYs will prevail, although they might. Reality, though, is that the Little River reservoir would be relatively small… thus getting us back to the question of the “full” level at Falls Lake.

Susan
05/18 09:30 AM

ct,
Thanks for the information about the Benton plant. I didn’t realize that Lakes Benson and Wheeler were not part of our water supply. I remember when they were our primary water supply, before Falls Lake. So Benton will help us, to some extent, survive a drought. But I don’t think that they will make up for continued growth.

The opposition to the Little River project is not due to NIMBYism. Many, if not most, of the opponents live some distance from the river. However, they do not want to lose most of the last free flowing river in Wake County, 1000 acres of forest, and the largest wetland in the Triangle. People opposed the Falls project for the same reason, but the opposition was not well organized. They are much stronger now.

AC
05/24 11:55 PM

What growth? What drought? Each year we had a drought Falls Lake was over 252.5 in may and COE released 20 MGD to drop the water level to 251.5 before hurricane season starts June 1. Benton plant adds 15MGD but the answer is keeping Falls at 252. Tiered rates and conservation mean lower revenues which mean higher rates.  Econ 101.  The answer is letting Falls go to 252.5 verus 251.5 and adding 10MGD of raw water to Benton Plant. That would give you about 25 MGD or twice as much water as Cary uses in a day.

Susan
05/27 05:53 PM

A few years ago the lake was well below 251 feet. It was almost empty. We are bigger now than we were then. What happens if, 10 years from now, when we will be about 50% bigger than in 2008 we have a similar drought? We will run out.
We can just keep growing at the current rate, faster than any other county in the state and one of the fasted growing in the country. If we continue to grow like we are growing now, one day we will have a drought and run out of water. Then our growth will come to a screeching halt. It would be much better to taper it off, slowly decreasing the rate.

AC
05/27 08:59 PM

The lake was almost ten feet below normal pool when reported to have 91 days of water supply. There was still water quality pool etc. The sad fact is the lake was at 254.6 in April 2007 but it was dumped so that the COE would have flood storage. Growth rates of 3-4% in 2007 yes. None now. Explain why we use drinking water to irrigate lawns? 15-20 MGD during summer. Less than 1% of water is actually consumed. Average water demand is 43-45 MGD during winter while summer demand is 60-78. Reuse water will cut future demand as it ramps up to supply non potable uses golf course irrigation, cooling towers etc. Save water drink beer!

ct
05/28 08:57 AM

AC is right. Also bear in mind that a lot of the growth in Wake County—Cary, Apex, etc—doesn’t depend on Falls Lake. Jordan Lake is just like Falls Lake; it can hold an enormous amount of water if they raise the level simply a few feet.

Susan
05/28 02:53 PM

Most of Wake County is in the Neuse, not the Cape Fear (Jordan Lake) basin. Water taken from the Cape Fear basin for use in the Neuse basin deprives the people downstream in the Cape Fear basin.

But the problems with our rapid growth go far beyond just water. We have traffic congestion that is getting worse with no solution in sight. We have air pollution that comes, in large part, from the traffic congestion.

ct
05/28 03:20 PM

Inter-basin transfers are a complex issue, but otherwise the treated sewage from west and south Wake—where most of the growth in Wake County over the last 15 years has taken place—goes back into the Cape Fear system. Look, there is no shortage of water from Fayetteville downstream to Wilmington (and there never will be)... just like there is no shortage of water on the Neuse from Kinston to New Bern (and never will be). The water supply problem is basically limited Wake, Durham, Orange, and Johnston. As for growth, it’s inevitable. The only question is what kind of growth. Even Mayor Meeker is pro-growth; he simply wants most of it to be ITB. Water constraints here can be overcome. Air pollution is a whole different discussion, but local politicians aren’t going to put the brakes on growth because of that.

AC
05/31 09:32 PM

Great comments. I hope our leaders are doing the same. There is only one small inter basin transfer now and that is Cary from Cape Fear to Neuse. FYI, the Army COE increased the release from Falls Lake May 30 from 150 cfs to 300 cfs cause Falls Lake is at 252.5 not 251.5. That is an extra 97 million gallons released per day. Here is link
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nc/nwis/uv/?site_no=02087183&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060